AIRLINE: Hello all! I have just returned from Santa Monica via United Airlines. This was my first experience with United (main - line) and I can give them a very good rating. I left out of Logan Friday evening about 6:30. We pushed back on time (in fact a little early) taxied to our active and before I knew it we were winging our way to LA. (We took off south and banked west.) Channel 8 was our aircraft to tower channel. As we left, I listened and the pilot gave our id as our flight number. I had thought that the custom was to give the plane reg no, but I now know otherwise. Our route seem to take us over Detroit and Toronto airspace and then down via Missouri and then over New Mexico and into Phoenix and finally down into LAX. Good food, flight service. Our B-757 was almost full. My only disappointment came when it came to baggage claim. Almost 30 minutes before Boston bags dropped and then on a different carousel than posted. LAX - United domestic seems to be under-going some construction, so the 70's style terminal had some walls up here and there that didn't belong, but that's okay. Change and airports go hand-in-hand. Many here suggested how to get to my destination. Thanks. I had expected to take Prime Time, but the customer service person suggested I take Super Shuttle, as he was out of vans going my way. I did, but only after waiting 45 minutes for a van going to Santa Monica. Once on board, our driver seemed to not know the best way to get everyone to where they wanted to go, which made several people unhappy. "Well, we can go this way, or that way. I don't know. You decide." "I heard a woman fuss 'We aren't children! Take the freeway to this place, then that, etc." Regardless of the confusion, I enjoyed watching five lanes of high speed traffic wizz-by. I saw a traffic cop ticket a taxi who stopped in the red-zone to pick up a fare. (It seems that he knew he shouldn't have done this and playing dumb didn't avoid the $25.00 he got.) But eventually, I got to my hotel and was very happy. The return trip to the airport was even more exciting. Our access was made from Lincoln Street our of Santa Monica past Loyolla College. I arrived parallel to one of the active runways and got a great view of Southwest B-737 landing. I was especially excited because my view seemed to mirror that of my LAX video I purchased from Just Planes last year. What an exciting treat! Service back was the same; nearly full flight, good food. I sat in row 8 which is the exit row. This gave me more leg room than going down and I was number two off the plane here in Boston. My in-flight movie was Sherk 2 going down and back and Sherk 2 is plastered all-over Universal Studios theme park, so I'm Sherked to death at the moment. I enjoyed Venice Beach. Quite a sight. Everything from A-Z and beyond. Nice beach. Well kept with lots of great places to stop and pick up something quick to eat and otherwise. Overall, a very nice weekend. Great place to be, although some candid conversations with service personnel at my hotel and at Universal say that the area is pricey and going out of sight. " My wife and I can afford a house here for about $250,000 to $300,000," a clerk at Universal began "but I like to eat, too. It's a rat race out here," he added. He mentioned that he wanted to get out and move to Texas. I attended a function where a realtor told me that this area is great for buying, not selling. He was doing some great development just south of the Farmers Market area and off LaBrea. I have debated on whether I might move to LA, but if I ever do, I would like to be in Los Angeles proper or Hollywood. Santa Monica is cool and artsy, but my tastes are elsewhere. Listening to this morning's news here in Cambridge, it appears that we just missed a security incident at LAX that delayed flights for two hours! (Lucky us!) And that is my trip report. Mike Burris Cambridge, Mass __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - You care about security. So do we. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail